Honest John: bad luck, warranty woes and speed camera concerns

Your questions answered by the dealer you can trust

By Honest John

4:19PM GMT 25 Nov 2008

Welshed on deal

We live in North Wales and seven weeks ago we bought a 52-reg Ford Focus C-Max diesel with 63,000 miles on the clock in Lancashire. We agreed that an MoT test should be done before buying the car. The dealer arranged it and a certificate was issued by a garage used regularly by the dealer (with no advisory notices) a day before we bought the car. Initially we were delighted but within less than a week the car wouldn’t start and the alternator had to be replaced. The dealer had given us a three-month guarantee and the work was covered but as it was prohibitive to tow the car back to Lancashire we agreed with the dealer that he would pay £150 towards the cost (total £208) for the work to be done at our local garage. Four weeks later the clutch failed. We were stranded for four hours, with two children aged two and four. Having been towed to our destination in Cardiff, we contacted the dealer who informed us that the clutch was not covered by his guarantee and it was just bad luck on our part. We arranged for a new clutch to be fitted locally, at a cost of £680. When we collected the car from the garage in Cardiff they advised us that the front brake discs were very badly corroded and would not pass an MoT test. In the mechanic’s opinion the corrosion could not have happened in five weeks and that he would not have allowed the car to leave his garage in this condition. Replacing the two front discs is likely to cost about £150. The dealer who sold us the car is not prepared to take responsibility and the garage which issued the MoT certificate is not willing to admit fault. We have contacted VOSA and are appealing the MoT, so by next week we will know if the car should have failed its MoT seven weeks ago. Is this catalogue of events really bad luck, or are we right to be dissatisfied with the dealer who sold us the car and his response to our concerns. What recourse do we have?

F.R. Bethesda

Legally, you can compel the dealer to either take the car back and refund your money, or fix all of the remaining faults. The law is Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002. The statute and case law on it take the view that a dealer is responsible for any faults that occur on a car within six months of the sale, reasoning that they must have been developing at the time of sale. It is up to him to prove this is not the case. But you must give him the opportunity to fix the faults, which you have done. Since the car was well below the £7,000 Small Claims Court maximum you can take your case to the Small Claims Court if necessary. See FAQ Rejecting a Duff Car at www.honestjohn.co.uk for further advice and links to solicitors.

Wrong about rights

I bought a used, 65,000-mile Peugeot 306 on March 20, 2008. On July 22, at 71,088 miles, following battery failure (twice), I took the car for a check and found that the battery and the exhaust system needed replacing at a cost of £516. On July 26, at 71,236 miles, I took the car for a service. Additional advice from the garage included: spare tyre bald on edges, unable to remove rear brake drums due to seized bearings, auxiliary belt badly cracked. On August 3, at 71,840 miles, it broke down. RAC Recovery advises a suspected cylinder head gasket failure, with radiator dislodged and coolant lost. The AA warranty that came with the car was only for three months and I didn’t extend it. Can I go to the dealer who sold me the car with a repair bill? He sold it to me as “a really good little car”.

E.J., Leamington Spa

No, because you did not approach him first about the problems and give him the opportunity to fix them.

Offensive defence

I see that the latest sat-nav GPS equipment incorporates information to warn motorists of traps, including likely locations of mobile speed trap partnership vans. How do the sat-nav companies obtain such information, and how do they avoid prosecution when recently an individual was fined for displaying a hand-written sign saying “Beware, speed trap” outside his home?

E.M., Baslow

It is legally published material in the public domain. Printed road maps show locations of fixed traps. Incidentally, the man who warned of the speed trap got off because he was preventing the public from committing an offence and the police could not prove those members of the public were already committing an offence when they saw his warning.